Public Service Commission of South Carolina - PowerPoint Presentation

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Public Service Commission of South Carolina

Jocelyn Boyd

Chief Clerk

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Case-Related Procedures before The Public Service Commission

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Public Service Commission Mission

To serve the public by providing open and effective regulation and adjudication of the state’s public utilities, through consistent administration of the law and regulatory process.

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Pleading Filed with the Commission

A document seeking relief in a proceeding before the Commission, including complaint, answer, application, protest, request, motion (other than an oral motion made during a proceeding) or petition. Regulation 103-804 (O).

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Commission Proceedings

The general process of the Commission’s determination of the relevant facts and the applicable law, the consideration thereof and the action thereupon in regard to a particular subject matter within the Commission’s jurisdiction,

initiated by the filing of an appropriate pleading or issuance of a Commission order or rule to show cause

. Regulation 103-804 (Q).

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Gas, Heat, Water, and Electric Rate Cases

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Fuel Cost Cases, Including Incremental or Avoided Costs of Distributed Energy Resource Programs

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Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act

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Purchased Gas Adjustment Proceedings

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South Carolina Code

Title 58, Article 4

Natural Gas Rate Stabilization Act

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Rate Cases

Fuel Cost Cases

Siting Cases (Siting Act

Only)

Purchased

Gas Adjustment CasesGas Rate Stabilization Act

Cases

Prefiled Testimony

xx

x

x

Hearing Scheduled

x

x

x

x

Statutory Deadlines

x

x

x

Summary

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Transitioning from Traditional Cases to

T

he Base Load Review Act

The Electric Utility Rate Adjustment Section 58-27-860 is mentioned in the Base Load Review Act. A utility can file an application for new electric rates under Section 58-27-860 in a Combined Application under the Base Load Review Act. Section 58-33-230

“Combined application” means a base load review application which is combined with an application for a certificate under the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act, or which involves a plant located outside of the State of South Carolina, and at the utility’s option may be combined with an application for new electric rates under Section 58-27-860.

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Editor’s Note to Section 58-33-210

“The purpose of Article 4 of Chapter 33 of Title 58, added by Section 2 of this act,

is to provide for the recovery of the prudently incurred costs associated with new base load plants

, as defined in Section 58-33-220 of Article 4,

when constructed by investor-owned electrical utilities

,

while at the same time protecting customers of investor-owned electrical utilities from responsibility for imprudent financial obligations or costs

.”

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Question: How is “Utility” defined in the Base Load Review Act?

Answer: “Utility” means a person owning or operating equipment or facilities for generating, transmitting, or delivering electricity to South Carolina retail customers for compensation but it shall

not

include electric cooperatives, municipalities, the South Carolina Public Service Authority, or a person furnishing electricity only to himself, itself, its residents, employees, or tenants when the electricity is not resold or used by others

.” Section 58-33-220 (20)

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

Base Load Plant

A new coal or nuclear fueled electrical generating unit or units or facility that is designed to be operated at a capacity factor exceeding seventy percent annually, has a gross initial generation capacity of three hundred fifty megawatts or more, and is intended in whole or in part to serve retail customers of a utility in South Carolina, and for a coal plant, includes Best Available Control Technology, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for the control of air emissions. Section 58-33-220 (2)

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Project Development Application Process

Applicant files a Project Development Application for preconstruction costs of a nuclear-powered facility (e.g., costs of evaluation, design, engineering, environmental and geotechnical analysis, etc.)

The commission shall issue a project development order (within 6 months of the filing of the application) affirming the prudency of the utility’s decision to incur preconstruction costs for the nuclear plant specified in the application if the utility demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision to incur preconstruction costs for the plant is prudent.

Section 58-33-225 (A – D)

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

Combined Application

A base load review application which is combined with an application for a certificate under the Utility Facility Siting and Environmental Protection Act, or which involves a plant located outside of the State of South Carolina, and at the utility’s option may be combined with an application for new electric rates under Section 58-27-860.

Base Load Review Application

An application for a base load review order under the Act

Section 58-33-220 (3) and (6)

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Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

Base Load Review Order

“An order issued by the commission pursuant to Section 58-33-270 establishing that if a plant is constructed in accordance with an approved construction schedule, approved capital costs estimates, and approved projections of in-service expenses, as defined herein, the plant is considered to be used and useful for utility purposes such that its capital costs are prudent utility costs and are properly included in rates.” Section 58-33-220 (4)

In-Service Expenses are defined in 58-33-220 (10)

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Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

Capital Costs or Plant Capital Costs

Means costs associated with the design, siting, selection, acquisition, licensing, construction, testing, and placing into service of a base load plant, and capital costs incurred to expand or upgrade the transmission grid in order to connect the plant to the transmission grid and includes costs that may be properly considered capital costs associated with a plant under generally accepted principles of regulatory or financial accounting, and specifically includes AFUDC associated with a plant and capital costs associated with facilities or investments for the transportation, delivery, storage, and handling of fuel. Section 58-33-220 (5)

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act Modifications to Base Load Review Order

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act Requests for Revised Rates

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South Carolina Code Title 58, Article 4

Base Load Review Act Petition for Review of Revised Rates

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Project Development Order Filings

Base Load Review Application or Combined Application

Petition

for Modification

Revised Rate Filings

Aggrieved

Party Filings

Prefiled Testimony

x*x

x

x

Hearing Scheduled

x*

x

x

x

Statutory Deadlines

x

x**

x

x

x

*The commission shall issue a project development order affirming the prudency of the utility’s decision to incur preconstruction costs for the nuclear

plant specified in the application if the utility demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision to incur preconstruction costs for the plant is prudent.” 58-33-225 (D)

**If filed under 58-33-240(E)

Summary

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Sections 58-27-920, 58-27-930 & 58-27-940

The commission may, after preliminary investigation by the Office of Regulatory Staff and upon such evidence as to the commission seems sufficient, order any electrical utility to put into effect a schedule of rates as shall be deemed fair and reasonable… (58-27-920)

If any utility affected thereby objects to an order issued pursuant to Section 58-27-920, it may, within 10 days after service upon it of the copy of the order, file a petition with the commission stating the grounds of any such objection and demand a hearing thereon and it may require, if it so requests in the petition, that such schedule of rates be suspended pending the hearing…. Any member of the public adversely affected by any such order of the commission shall also have all the rights herein conferred on the utility affected. (58-27-930)

See Commission Order Nos. 2003-573 and 98-987

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PRUDENCY

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PRUDENT

Sagacious

in adapting means to end; circumspect in action, or in determining any line of conduct. Practically wise, judicious, careful, discreet, circumspect, sensible.

Tureen v. Peoples Motorbus Co. of St. Louis

, Mo. App., 97 S.W.2d 847, 848. In defining negligence, practically synonymous with cautious

.

Black’s Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition

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PRUDENT

Circumspect or judicious in one’s dealings; cautious.

Black’s Law Dictionary, Eighth Edition

Public Service Commission of South CarolinaSlide29

Number of Times “Prudent”, including Statute Title Caption,

Appears in the Base Load Review Act

Prudence

Prudency

Prudent

Prudently

Imprudence

Imprudent

Imprudently

Editor’s Note

58-33-210

1

1

58-33-220

1

1

58-33-225

1

7

4

1

3

2

58-33-240

2

1

1

1

58-33-270

1

1

58-33-275

1

1

58-33-280

1

2

58-33-287

1

58-33-290

1

Total (36)

4

9

9

1

3

7

3

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Commission Base Load Review Act Orders That Reference a Variation of the Word “Prudent”

Order No. 2009-104 (A)

Order No. 2010-12

Order No. 2011-345

Order No. 2012-884

Order No. 2015-661

Order No. 2016-794

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Preponderance of the Evidence

The greater weight of the evidence, not necessarily established by the greater number of witnesses testifying to a fact but by evidence that has the most convincing force; superior evidentiary weight that, though not sufficient to free the mind wholly from all reasonable doubt, is still sufficient to incline a fair and impartial mind to one side of the issue rather than the other. This is the burden of proof in most civil trials, in which the jury is instructed to find for the party, that, on the whole, has the stronger evidence, however slight the edge may be.

Black’s Law Dictionary, Eighth Edition

Public Service Commission of South Carolina